A multimedia conference system typically allows multiple participants to communicate and share different types of media content in a collaborative and real-time meeting over a network. The multimedia conference system may display different types of media content using various graphical user interface (GUI) windows or views. For example, one GUI view might include video images of participants, another GUI view might include presentation slides, yet another GUI view might include text messages between participants, and so forth. In this manner various geographically disparate participants may interact and communicate information in a virtual meeting environment similar to a physical meeting environment where all the participants are within one room.
In a virtual meeting environment, however, it may be difficult to display all of the various participants of a meeting. This problem typically increases as the number of meeting participants increase, since some participants may be speaking while not being displayed, or vice-versa, thereby potentially leading to confusion and awkwardness among the participants Furthermore, it may be difficult to identify a particular speaker at any given moment in time, particularly when multiple participants are speaking simultaneously or in rapid sequence. Techniques directed to improving display techniques in a virtual meeting environment may therefore enhance user experience and convenience.